The federal Conservative party has released an “It Gets Better” video, telling GLBT teens to stick through the tough times after another bullying-related suicide made headlines last week.

Now, I believe the Tories sincerely wish to reduce teen suicides, but the fact is they’ve consistently acted to effect policies to make life worse for GLBT Canadians. Without any actions to back up this sudden (and rather late) sentiment, I can’t take it particularly seriously.

Out of the MPs to speak in the video, all but two voted against extending existing hate crime protections to trans Canadians—and that was just in May. And out of all the video’s participants that were sitting during Canada’s same-sex marriage debate, only one (John Baird) voted for equal marriage rights for GLBT Canadians, with the rest all voting to restrict or even revoke such rights. Vic Toews in particular has not demonstrated any efforts to give gay Canadians equal treatment under the law, having actually introduced a motion to revoke same-sex marriage in 2006, even encouraging use of Canada’s obscure Notwithstanding clause to ensure such a ban would survive if the courts ruled it to be unconstitutional. He even attempted to introduce a bill that would have allowed secular civil servants to deny public services to gay couples. And this was during his term as Canada’s justice minister. The party itself adopted a policy to revoke equal marriage rights by defining marriage as opposite-sex only during its convention in June—just four months ago.

Politicians are in the unique position to say things will get better, and then actually help make it happen. If they want people like me to take this video seriously, they should have done it in the opposite order.

Canadian Internet sensation and all around sweetheart, Maria Aragon, was paid a visit by Stephen Harper last week to help kick start his election campaign for the Conservative party.

Surrounded by the media, the 10 year old sat beside the Prime Minister and performed Lady Gaga’s “Born this way,” the song that made her a viral hit online after it caught the attention of Gaga herself. Even with the added pressure of performing before reporters and cameras, Maria played magnificently. I particularly like the confidence with which she sung this verse:

No matter gay, straight or bi
lesbian, transgendered life
I’m on the right track baby
I was born to survive

Such a nice affirmation that GLBT people, despite facing discrimination simply for how they were born, have worth and value.

Sexual orientation or, more accurately, what we are really talking about here, sexual behaviour […] was not included in the Charter of Rights when it was passed by parliament in 1982. It was not included, not because of some kind of accident or oversight, but deliberately and explicitly.–Stephen Harper

Wait, sorry—what I meant to say was that it reminds me of the opposite of something Stephen Harper said in the House of Commons. How silly of me.

You see, from listening to what Harper has had to say about GLBT Canadians over the years, I’d say that he doesn’t think gay people are “born this way” at all—and his actions are even worse than his words. In late 2006, for example, Harper attempted to revoke the rights of same-sex couples to marry equally in Canada. And in February of this year, he voted against a bill that would have protected transgendered Canadians from discrimination in employment, housing, and public services.

But, yet, here he is—sitting beside Maria and smiling at the cameras while she so wonderfully affirms the inherent worth of GLBT citizens. Yes, clearly, the adorable Maria has changed Harper’s mind.

A quick tap, followed by a booming sound and some metallic, resonating clatter!

…

Uh, that was supposed to be a rim-shot. They don’t come across very well in writing, do they?

The idea that homosexuality can be eliminated through prayer is about as old as it is wrong. I like to think that there aren’t many people who still believe it, but just this week a member of the UK’s large Conservative party declared, on record, that homosexuality is “the work of demons,” and can be cured through “the power of prayer.”

You know who else thinks that gays can be turned straight? George Rekers, one of the United State’s most prominent anti-gay activists. He, along with his good friend, James Dobson, founded the Family Research Council, a large anti-gay organization whose initiatives have caused incalculable suffering. He actively sought to end all legal protections for gay citizens ranging from marriage rights and adoption rights to simple protection from hate crimes. He also encourages parents to send their young teens to discredited and harmful rehabilitation camps so they can be “cured” of homosexuality.

Now, this has happened enough times that you can probably just assume where this is going, but guess who was caught hiring a young, male prostitute from one of the web’s most prominent gay escort sites to accompany him on a European vacation? (Here’s a hint: it’s George Rekers.)

Rekers, who was photographed with his rent boy at the airport, claims he simply hired the sex worker to help him carry his luggage. I guess he probably wouldn’t have been satisfied with the complimentary help that most airports provide. Plus, luggage carrying usually requires the sort of “smooth, sweet, tight ass” that Reker’s luggage-carrier advertised on his gay escort website. (You know, the gay escort site where Reker found him… to carry luggage.)

If you want to hear from Rekers himself on the topic of everything gay, be sure to check out his booklet, “Prevention of Homosexuality,” which can be picked up at any of the pray-away-the-gay seminars hosted by Exodus International. (Also available in Portuguese! A Prevenção da Homossexualidade.)

If you’re a politician belonging to Hungary’s most radical right-wing political party, you might want to leave your camera at home the next time you go vacationing in Canada.

András Király, a member of Jobbik, the religiously-based political party defining itself as the “movement for a better Hungary,” took some time in 2008 to visit Toronto during the city’s Pride Week. The young politician, whose platform is set firmly against gay rights, gypsies, and immigrants, also decided to document his stay with a digital camera.

The photos, as if we should all be surprised, have now surfaced in multiple, French-language and Hungarian media outlets this week. Each documents a smiling (and I mean smiling) Király, posing flirtatiously with several hot, Torontonian, gay men, as well as a topless transgender woman. Additional photos also show him smoking pot, and (apparently) inhaling it second-hand from the mouth of another guy.

Király claims that his participation in Toronto’s Pride week was all part of his own “research,” but Jobbik mustn’t feel particularly pleased with the findings. Király’s page vanished without a trace from the party’s official website.

Don’t worry, Jobbik; since you seem to be low on web resources, I’ll happily document your candidate’s research on this site!